Whats your worst call?

Q: What Was Your Worst Call?

(Squad) My first call with the squad was an unconcious/unresponsive in the summer of 2010. The ambulance responded with 4 people, and myself and 2 other members responded in our support vehicle. When we arrived on scene, we came across approx. 12 people standing outside the house, 2 of them (which i knew) said "He's in the attic, please hurry!" We grabbed our gear and rushed up the steps into the attic. We found a 20ish year old male laying on the bed; head hanging off the side, completely blue, a stream of blood from his nose to a pool on the floor. He'd been there over night in 90 degree weather, needless to say he was pronounced on scene. This diddnt bother me (well, it did, but you understand what i mean) what bothered me is the father's reaction, he was on the floor screaming "please dont take my baby boy, he's all i have!" I still to this day remember the faces standing around the house, the layout of the house, the deceased boy, and the father's voice.

(Fire) My worst call with the fire department was a motor vehicle accident that occured on June 6th, 2010. I was just a junior firefighter at the time and had just gotten home from a vacation when our tones dropped, "98 fire 98 rescue alert; Respond to the intersection of ********* and ************ for a MVA truck vs SUV head on, confirmed entrapment, 1 party unconcious/unresponsive." I got to the fire house and the first engine, crash van and brush truck were gone. My lieutenant had our second engine out waiting for more man power, so i ran into the station, geared up and hopped into the officers seat. My LT called our chief up on the radio and told him we had 2 standing by and chief requested we respond out to the field right next to the accident (there was a little league softball game going on which we stopped until the helicopters took off) to set up an LZ. We called into county responding (keep in mind we have about a 6-8 min ride to the LZ site) and their reply was "Engine 62, be advised the ETA for your copter is approx 10 mins." So we arrived on scene and the copter was overhead as soon as i put the last cone down. After the copter landed, chief called us and requested an additional LZ for another patient. My LT and I expanded the LZ and the first patient was loaded into the helicopter and they took off (i later learned he coded in the helicopter on the way). After the second helicopter took off, we were reassigned to block off the road. We were on scene for approx 4 hours. To my knowledge, neither driver survived.

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Comment by Cody Reiger on February 9, 2011 at 6:33pm: And my previous comment wasnt directed at all of you, one poster in particular

Comment by Cody Reiger on February 9, 2011 at 11:55am: This post was not asking YOU what your worst call was, people ask me this all the time, so i posted them, i dont need your pissy comments

Comment by WestPhilly on February 7, 2011 at 11:03am: Good thinking, Ranger Dee. (And that should have been Sons, not Son's).

Comment by WestPhilly on February 7, 2011 at 10:46am: Cut OT is the worst cut of all. Son's of bitches!

Comment by WestPhilly on February 7, 2011 at 10:07am: Couldn't come up with a worse call than mine, huh, Kali? That's okay, neither has anyone else.

Comment by Bill Anderson on February 6, 2011 at 2:17am: I hate it when people ask this question, especially the order takers at fast food places. I've got to where I give this answer;

I dunno if it's the12 year old shot in the head, the woman who was ejected in a head on and looked like a speed bump, the eight year old who got hit by a car, the remnants of a body from a house fire, or all the people I've seen that have heads busted open, I dunno which was the worst.

The looks are priceless. Probably shouldn't do that, but you know gore is what they are looking for, and after 30 years I've seen more than my share.

Comment by Vincent Webster on February 5, 2011 at 11:27pm: Responded to a MVA back in the mid 90's. Truck had flipped over and pinned the passenger by the head. He was still conscious when we were able to lift the truck off of him. I was at the head of the cot as we were rolling him to the ambulance. I was looking him straight in the eyes telling him to stay awake and keep breathing. He literally had a deathgrip on my turnout coat as I was talking to him.
When we go to load him into the squad, I had to pry his hands off of my coat and that is when I noticed he was unresponsive. Once the pressure of the truck was off of his head, he bleed out quickly. To this day it is hard to think that I was the last person he saw or talked to him. Whether he understood anything or not we will never know. Many more I could talk about, but that one stays with me the most.

Comment by Fireman Larry on February 5, 2011 at 8:32pm: Sorry bro, I can't tell you about those calls, those are my nightmares... I'll tell you one, that'll make up for it, happened around the late 80's....
We responded on an unresponsive adult male. On arrival, we find him on the bed, no vitals, body is warm, quick history from a roommate, he was suffering from an Upper GI, hematemesis present on walls, floor and bedding. We all start working on him, I insert an oral, another FF starts compressions, of course, the emeses is now everywhere, all over my hands, the victim,"Yechhhh". When the Medics arrive, one does the leads to the Monitor, still flatlining, the other has us to move him to the floor, and that's when it happened. I was at the head, the other FF on the feat. I cross the vic's arms to pick him up, on three we lift, but the sh#t is all over everything, him, me, him... me... and just as we clear the bed, putting him to the floor. His scrawny little wrists, in my big FF hands, covered in that crap... He slips... Down to the ground.. WHAM... lands flat on his back... "Oh F*%k" is what I was thinking. Now the Medic on the phone with the hospital, was stunned, you'd expect there to be some activity on the Monitor, from the fall. But not to continue with a steady rhythm, HUH!!!
Every time I think about that save, I get a big silly grin on my face... We also, keep a towel in the med kit, so I wont drop anyone again...

Comment by Keith A. Morrone on February 4, 2011 at 6:14pm: Well it wasn't long ago in January 2011 we get this "ECHO" (priority: Alpha,Bravo,Charlie,Delta,Echo the latter most ergant )call for a 3yr old boy unresponcive/not breathing.. that lives next to the station,My Lt. and i arive at fire house same time He goes for the house i get the "Rig". A Emt is 1min away, i get the o2 tank & a ped. nonrebreather mask walk in and here he is trying to get airway clear,,,,, It was a mess.. i couldn't even drive after seeing that 1 of the chiefs had to drive rig 2 hosp. it still bothers me.. :( stoped resonding to ems call for a while. that little boy got a 1inch ball stuck in his throte and it killed him. THAT SUCKS............................

Comment by Clay Reynolds on February 4, 2011 at 3:10pm: Nobody likes to talk about the bad ones. 15 years in fire/ems and have seen alot of bad "stuff" the ones that get you the most are the kids and teenagers. First bad one was a motorcyle w/male and female on (no helmets) and they t-bone a pickup truck. Male doa and the female is dying in front of you. Worst call was a recent one of a 2yr old boy who was accidentally run over by his father with a piece of farm equipment. One of two first on the scene and the dad had carried the kid into the house and had him laid on the kitchen table. Worked him until the bus got there and hauled to the hospital where he was declared dead. Never good having to do cpr on a kid. I will never forget the father crying to his wife apologizing. That call took CISD to get over but you never forget. If you're new in the service never be ashamed to talk to someone about a bad one and CISD does help because if you don't it'll eat you up inside, been there and done that.